10 Things To Never Put On Your Résumé
A résumé is not meant to be your life story. You do not have to bare your soul and share every ugly
detail of your work history. Your résumé is your personal sales brochure whose only purpose is to get
you an interview. To help show yourself in the best possible light, carefully choose what you put on
and leave off of your résumé.
You should (almost) never include the following:
1. Dates that reveal your age. Sad to say, but age discrimination is alive and well. Ways to avoid
revealing your age include not showing the year you graduated from college and not listing all of your
work experience (only include the most recent years that are most applicable to the position you are
applying for). If you are applying for a position that requires many years of experience, then your age
may be an asset, otherwise don't take that chance.
2. Unless your hobby is directly related to your career its best to leave it off. Showing too many
activities can cause the employer to worry if they will interfere with your work. In addition the space
use for discussing your hobbies could be better spent on discussing your skills. The interview may
provide you with an opportunity to talk about your hobbies as it provides you with an opportunity to
show how well rounded you are.
3. "References available upon request." This is a waste of space. Most often when you fill out the job
application there will be a place for you to list your references. Use the space on your résumé to
discuss job specific information.
4. Generic objectives. Objectives like "To obtain a challenging position in a fortune 500 company"
don't say anything. Your objective statement should be custom tailored to the position and the
company you are applying for. You can also replace your objective statement with a skills summary
or professional summary if you think that will better serve you.
5. Short-lived jobs. Employers don't like job hoppers. Most employers want to believe that their
employees will be around long enough for them to recoup the dollars spent on training. Leave off any
jobs that you only worked at for a few months.
If you worked several jobs with a temporary or
contracting agency, list the agency as your employer and each job as a project or assignment. Of
course when it comes time to fill out the job application list all of your employers even the short ones;
but by then hopefully you'll already have interview scheduled where you can then address any
concerns or issues.
6. GPA. Once you are more than a couple of years out of college your GPA becomes fairly irrelevant.
The only exception to this may be careers where there is heavy emphasis placed on education; in
that case it may do you good to include your GPA or class ranking. But even in those situations, if
your GPS was average or low, don't draw attention to that fact by listing it.
7. Information that reveals your religion, gender, sexual preference, political party, or anything else
remotely controversial.
8. More experience than the job requires. If the position only calls for 5 years of experience, your first
task should be to ensure your résumé shows 5 years of solid experience. Don't waste space by listing 20 years
of mostly non-applicable experience.
This is not to say that you can't list additional
experience, but your first priority should be to show the experience they are asking for. If your résumé
starts to run long cut extraneous employment information that is not directly related to the specific job
you are pursuing.
9. High School Information. If you've gone to college you almost never need to list your high school
information. The only exception to this may be if you live in a city where your high school is well
known or greatly respected, then it may provide you with a little clout.
On the other hand it could also
backfire on you; if your interviewer didn't go to that high school, there may be some animosity there.
High school rivalries are a funny thing. So what if you didn't go to college? Remember, education
does not have to be limited to formal education. You can call the section "Training" and include job
training or classes you've taken.
10. Anything negative. This should go without saying but just in case, never put anything on your
résumé that is negative or shows you in a bad light. The point of a résumé is to help you get a job, not
eliminate you from consideration.